Federal charges now bring to four the number of people charged with the inside-job armed robbery of a Hopkins grocery that netted the bandits tens of thousands of dollars from the safe.
An indictment filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis charges the co-conspirators with robbery and firearms counts in connection with holding up the US Grocery and Tobacco in the 500 block of N. Blake Road on Feb. 15.
The federal case largely echoes in its details the charges and related documents filed last month in Hennepin County District Court against the two primary defendants, Darius C. Elam, 29, of St. Paul, and Ryan M. Elam, 28, of Brooklyn Center.
Newly implicated by the U.S. Attorney’s Office are two women from Hopkins. Kynesha J. Jones, 33, is accused of providing the Elams information about the store’s layout and how the money was handled. Katrice R. Sanders, 31, allegedly helped plan the heist and owned the getaway vehicle.
The Elams, who Hopkins police believe are cousins, remain jailed under federal custody. Jones and Sanders are free on bond on their own recognizance. Attorneys for the four defendants have either not returned messages Thursday seeking comment or declined to field questions.
According to federal and state court documents:
The pair entered the store about 10 p.m. brandishing semiautomatic pistols. Two employees were bound and blindfolded with duct tape. The manager, threatened with her life and pistol-whipped in the head, gave the robbers access to the safe, which was emptied of $45,000.
The Elams took the employees’ cellphones and other possessions, including the manager’s gun, and fled in an SUV that police later learned was owned by Sanders.
